1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of well servicing of oil and gas wells, and more particularly to methods and systems useful in both cased and open hole sand face completions.
2. Related Art
The production of hydrocarbon from reservoirs requires permanently installed wellbores in the ground composed of a multiplicity of largely tubular structures referred to as the wellbore completion. Increasing the production of hydrocarbon typically requires the pumping of a fluid down the wellbore and into the reservoir, or through separate reinjection wells. Some fluids are designed to increase the flow of hydrocarbon, others impede the flow of water or build-up of scale.
Some operators and owners have reported significant gains in their ongoing efforts to deal with copious amounts of water produced along with oil from various reservoirs. In some instances, nearly seven barrels of water may be produced for every barrel of crude oil. The rate at which the produced-water volume is growing may be slowed through the use of various technologies. One notable success involves the use of expandable zonal inflow profiler (EZIP) technology to reduce ‘produced water’. The EZIP is a type of well completion that, when placed in contact with water inside a borehole, swells to provide a strong seal, and thus prevents the water from entering the well.
Many sandface completions installed today for reservoirs of this nature use systems consisting of wire-wrap screens and a series of blank casing pipes and EZIP annular packers. The typical length of completion segments between open-hole EZIP annular packers is about 100 m, with two or more 10 m screens distributed amongst blank casing pipes along this 100 m. Water shut off techniques in these systems span the range of mechanical and chemical treatments. One mechanical water shut off treatment typically used is a through-tubing casing patch, while chemical treatments include polymeric gels, many of which are crosslinked and may be delayed action.
Despite available water shut off techniques, improved methods and systems are needed that reduce the plugging inherent in wire-wrap screens, and that may be applied at any time in the life cycle of a reservoir or field to enhance the value of oil and gas assets through reduced water handling cost, improved hydrocarbon productivity and/or higher recovery factors.